SICK NEW WORLD SIDESHOW : CHEVELLE With SPECIAL GUEST AMIRA at HOB LV

It's been 11 years since I've seen CHEVELLE, and that is way too long. Chevelle played a sideshow date for the Sick New World Festival at House of Blues in Vegas, and proved that even after 35 years, they are a powerhouse of a band with a timeless sound that will carry on for more years to come.

But first we had a young singer I was really looking forward to seeing live. AMIRA (Amira Elfeky) hails from Los Angeles, and her nuanced Nu-Metal influenced songs reflect battles of high anxiety and mental health. Amira packs a powerful voice, with songs that have an eerie haunting sound, and the crowd really loved her. This was her first time playing Vegas, and to me and many others the highlight of her show was the closing number “Tonight”, a very emotional song about a bond between two people, with a Deftones-y feel. If this is any indication of what Amira can create, she is going to have a great long future as an artist. Amira heads out on tour this summer with The USED, more on tix HERE. Checkout her debut EP, Skin to Skin HERE, and follow on IG HERE. More photos below!

CHEVELLE took the stage to a SOLD OUT standing room only by this point, and with so many bands coming through Vegas for the festival weekend, Chevelle stands out among the pack. Chevelle is a power trio with a sound all their own, and really hit the stage hard and fast with the guitar driven “Verruckt” off the 2021 album Niratias. Guitarist / vocalist Pete Loeffler was the star of this song, with his signature guitar playing that really set the tone for the show. The crowd really came alive for "Vitamin R", and we saw the band and the audience come together as one, singing in harmony with

arms swaying and cell phones snapping photos. This moment felt like old friends meeting up after years apart.The singing on stage and in the crowd continued with “Face to the Floor”, one of the best sounding live songs of the night, with a hard driving beat that is hard to stand still too.

Pete asked the crowd if they "wanted to hear some old shit", and that it felt more like a Friday than a Thursday night, and were then treated to a personal favorite of mine as the band played "The Clincher" firing on all cylinders, and followed that up with "Send the Pain Below" Halfway through a mosh pit opened up near the back of the main floor, and the show was really on fire.

Perhaps the best moment of the night was when Pete asked the crowd to sing with him on "The Red". The song started off very soft, with a nice hushed sing along from the crowd, and all of a sudden the band brought the heavy out to finish off the song, with Pete smiling all the way. Pete asked the crowd “are we done yet?” and got screams of “NO”, and the band pulled out hits “Comfortable Liar", "I Get It" and "Mars Simula”, and the band received a thunderous ovation all the way up in the upper balcony. Chevelle kicked off an amazing weekend of rock n roll as part of the Sick New World festivities! Check out more photos below!